児童福祉の規定・試論(1) : 保育問題との関連で

This paper is a part of the studies dealing with child welfare. Here an attempt is made to define the term "child welfare" with a concentration on the day nursery problem. (I) Preface The term "welfare" is now very popular, and has acquired a wide meaning with a vague connotation. Therefore, to clarify the meaning of the term, I referred to some books, especially Mr. Tsujimura\u27s work, Koseikan, 1970. I think that "child welfare" means the measures to prevent and solve the child problems that inevitably confront us a capitalistic society, and that the term may well be replaced by some other words, so long as it is used only as a slogan. (II) Today\u27s day nursery problems It is difficult to tell the natue of day nursery prolems, because they can be discussed from various points of view. (1) The number of the institutions during the period of 1950-1970. (2) The number of the children admitted. (3) The kindergarden and the day nusery. (4) The nursery financing. (5) The number of nursery teachers. (III) Legal provisions The position the day nursery occupies in the realm of child welfare is greatly increasing its importance today. The government policy and administration, howevr, is very limited, and only concerned with children who need institutional care. The problem of day nursery should also be treated from the angle of the development and education of pre-school children and in connection with the women\u27s labor problem. Thus thinking, I suggest that child welfare as a cours of study should be so organized as to help the students understand the important role of the day nursery and its significance in a changing society

A prospective compound screening contest identified broader inhibitors for Sirtuin 1

Potential inhibitors of a target biomolecule, NAD-dependent deacetylase Sirtuin 1, were identified by a contest-based approach, in which participants were asked to propose a prioritized list of 400 compounds from a designated compound library containing 2.5 million compounds using in silico methods and scoring. Our aim was to identify target enzyme inhibitors and to benchmark computer-aided drug discovery methods under the same experimental conditions. Collecting compound lists derived from various methods is advantageous for aggregating compounds with structurally diversified properties compared with the use of a single method. The inhibitory action on Sirtuin 1 of approximately half of the proposed compounds was experimentally accessed. Ultimately, seven structurally diverse compounds were identified

Shared and Distinct Functions of the Transcription Factors IRF4 and IRF8 in Myeloid Cell Development

Interferon regulatory factor (IRF) 8 and IRF4 are structurally-related, hematopoietic cell-specific transcription factors that cooperatively regulate the differentiation of dendritic cells and B cells. Whilst in myeloid cells IRF8 is known to modulate growth and differentiation, the role of IRF4 is poorly understood. In this study, we show that IRF4 has activities similar to IRF8 in regulating myeloid cell development. The ectopic expression of IRF4 in myeloid progenitor cells in vitro inhibits cell growth, promotes macrophages, but hinders granulocytic cell differentiation. We also show that IRF4 binds to and activates transcription through the IRF-Ets composite sequence (IECS). Furthermore, we demonstrate that Irf8-/-Irf4-/- mice exhibit a more severe chronic myeloid leukemia (CML)-like disease than Irf8-/- mice, involving a disproportionate expansion of granulocytes at the expense of monocytes/macrophages. Irf4-/- mice, however, display no obvious abnormality in myeloid cell development, presumably because IRF4 is expressed at a much lower level than IRF8 in granulocyte-macrophage progenitors. Our results also suggest that IRF8 and IRF4 have not only common but also specific activities in myeloid cells. Since the expression of both the IRF8 and IRF4 genes is downregulated in CML patients, these results may add to our understanding of CML pathogenesis